MERCHANTS' CHALLENGE OF MASTERCARD'S IPO BACK ON.

Merchants involved in a class-action lawsuit challenging Visa's and MasterCard's interchange rate-setting policies may have won a victory on another front. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein yesterday recommended denying a motion to dismiss the merchants' complaint that MasterCard Worldwide's initial public offering in 2006 was a violation of antitrust laws. Orenstein's ruling, filed Feb. 12 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, clears the way for merchants to pursue a lawsuit challenging the legality of MasterCard's IPO, says K. Craig Wildfang, co-lead attorney for the merchants in the litigation (CardLine, 6/2/06). In the ruling, Orenstein also …